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A round-up of all the track and field action from the first day of athletics at the Bird's Nest.

For detailed reports from the men's 100m and women's heptathlon click on the links below the picture.

WOMEN'S 10,000m

Ethiopia's world champion Tirunesh Dibaba won the first track gold medal of the Games in the women's 10,000 metres final.

From when the 23-year-old hit the front with 300 metres to go, her victory was never in doubt and she crossed the line in 29 minutes 54.66 seconds, an Olympic record.

Ethiopian-born Elvan Abeylegesse, who had led for much of the latter part of the race, ran home in second to claim a first Olympic medal in athletics for a Turkish woman in 29.56.34. American Shalane Flanagan took bronze in 30.22.22.

Dibaba and Abeylegesse were only the second and third women to run under 30 minutes for the 10,000 after Chinese world record holder Wang Junxia, who set her mark in Beijing in 1993.

Jo Pavey produced a personal best time of 31:12.30 in the race but that was only good enough for 12th. Fellow Briton Kate Reed finished 23rd.

WOMEN'S 800m

Britain's Marilyn Okoro and Jenny Meadows have both reached the semi-finals of the women's 800m after comfortably recording top three finishes in their heats.

Jemma Simpson will not be joining Meadows and Okoro though narrowly missing out on a spot after finishing fourth in her heat.

Pamela Jelimo, the 18-year-old Kenyan who has dominated the 800 metres this season, showed no signs of freezing on the biggest stage as she advanced to the semi-finals.

At the other end of the age spectrum, 35-year-old Maria Mutola of Mozambique, winner in 2000, was the fastest qualifier.

MEN'S 1,500m

Andy Baddeley (pictured) reached the semi-finals of the 1,500m after placing third in heat three, behind winner Juan van Deventer, with a time of 3:36.32. His team-mate Tom Lancashire finished seventh in heat two and misses out.

All the big names moved on with former world champion Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain qualifying fastest in a time of 3:32.89.

MEN'S SHOT

Poland's Tomasz Majewski pulled off a major surprise when he won the Olympic gold medal in the men's shot put with a throw of 21.51 metres.

Christian Cantwell of the US took the silver medal with 21.09 and Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus the bronze with 21.05.

Adam Nelson, silver medallist in the past two Games, was eliminated after three foul throws and 2004 Olympic champion Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine finished sixth as shot put's old guard was overthrown.

The 26-year-old Majewski, the first Pole to win gold in the event since Wladyslaw Komar in 1972, threw his personal best of 21.04 during qualifying before bettering that in the final.

Majewski's previous best result was bronze at the world indoor championships this year.

Cantwell took silver thanks to his final throw of 21.09 which pushed Canadian Dylan Armstrong off the podium.

It was a disappointing showing from the much-vaunted US team with Reese Hoffa down in seventh and Nelson failing to make his mark.

MEN'S 400m hurdles

There was a major shock in the heats for the men's 400m hurdles when defending champion Felix Sanchez of Dominican Republic failed to qualify for the semi-finals as his time of 51.10 was only good enough for fifth in his heat. Markino Buckley of Jamaica was the fastest qualifier in a time of 48.65.

WOMEN'S TRIPLE JUMP

Yargelis Savigne of Cuba produced the best jump in qualification for the women's triple jump with a leap of 14.99 metres.

Swedish superstar Carolina Kluft, who passed the chance to defend her heptathlon gold to concentrate on this event and the long jump, failed to qualify for the final with a jump of 13.97 which was only good enough for 20th.

HAMMER

Defending hammer champion Koji Murofushi of Japan and world leader Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus qualified for Saturday's final with first throws, while Hungary's Krisztian Pars was the best qualifier and the only man to break the 80-metre mark.

Sean Fay & Agencies / Reuters